Data on Occitan

– In France, the South (« Midi »), in the broadest sense, including the Massif Central.

– In Italy, the Occitan Valleys, in the Piedmontese Alps (Provinces of Cuneo and Turin), and a linguistic island in Calabria, Piedmontese Guardia.

– In Spain, the Val d’Aran, in the Pyrenees.

Variants and dialects:

The glossonym Occitan can bear different interpretations depending on the linguistic awareness of the speakers, or even simply of the very people living in regions deemed « Occitan-speaking ».

In southern France, the dialectal fragmentation of spoken Latin yielded different languages, different dialects, overall very close in structure. But no historical, political, economic, and therefore linguistic unity ever emerged over the South of France. Thus the term Occitanie must be handled carefully.

The language of the troubadours, sometimes mentioned to justify the lost ancient unity, would appear to be a literary Koine borrowing from the different dialects.

Thus two different perspectives should be taken into account. On one hand, one considers the existence of a linguistic unity around one language, Occitan, whose dialects would be Languedocien, Limousin, Provençal, etc. One the other hand, one considers that the fragmentation is such that one can no longer speak of dialects, but only of « languages of Oc » (langues d’Oc). Certain areas (Gascogne, Provence) strongly underline their particularisms to distinguish themselves from what they view as artificial standardisation.

The relation of Occitan towards French has long been described in terms of diglossia. This notion had been largely developed by Occitan researchers (« occitanists ») who themselves were inspired by the Catalan as well as by the founding articles of Ferguson (1959) and Fishman (1967).

The leading figure of the Occitanist thought remains Robert Lafont, who played a significant part in analysing the details of the diglossic process, considered as a dominant (French) / dominated (Occitan) relation – see, in particular, Gardy & Lafont (1981), Lafont (1971b).

Figures on the number of speakers differ significantly. There is no available reliable survey. Schlieben-Lange (1993: 218) shows that these figures vary from 1 to 10 million. Breton (1976, confirmed in 1994) produces the number of 8 million speakers, which appears to be far overestimated. Campbell (2000) accounts for between 2 and 3 million speakers, and adds that none of them are monolingual. Hardly any of these speakers are monolingual in France; Occitan is no longer spoken as a first language, although it is not rare for teenagers or adults to learn it. The EUROMOSAIC survey accounts for 3,000,000 speakers, including 2,600,000 who speak it at home or with their friends. The Generalitat de Catalonia, although based on the EUROMOSAIC report, accounts for 2,200,000 speakers. Mercator-Media mentions 1,5 million daily speakers of Occitan, and between 5 and 6 million having the ability to speak it. Different factors make an accurate census difficult: – Ideological: some’s best interest is to boost these figures, others to minimise them; – Theoretical: how to define a « speaker of Occitan » while making the necessary distinction between passive and active command? A large number of speakers have a passive command of Occitan, and the regional varieties of French in southern France remain strongly infused with the Occitan substrate; – Methodological: how to account for speakers while a number of them are uncomfortable in declaring themselves speakers of Occitan, or only declare themselves as speakers of « patois »?

Vitality & Transmission:

All variants of Occitan are under serious threat of extinction, according to UNESCO criteria.

Occitan (alongside Franco-Provençal), and especially the variants spoken in the Rhône-Alpes region, is part of a documentation, description and revitalisation program led by the DDL laboratory (Language Dynamics) of the University of Lyon II (as part of the LED-TDR program).

France (Languedoc-Roussillon, except the largest part of the Pyrénées Orientales, where Catalan is dominant), Aquitaine (except the west of the Pyrénées Atlantiques)

Communication

France (Limousin)

Communication

France (Midi-Pyrénées)

Communication

France (Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur)

Communication

France (southern Isère, in Rhône-Alpes)

Communication

Italie (Calabre)

Communication

Italie (southern valleys of the Piedmontese Alps)

Communication

Legislation:

– In Spain, Occitan is co-official since 1990, alongside Spanish and Catalan in the Val d’Aran. This status was extended to the entire autonomous community of Catalonia in 2006, although its actual usage remains limited to the Val d’Aran.

– In Italy, Occitan is a « protected language » according to the 1999 law no. 482. Its usage is allowed in the administration, education, and media anywhere local authorities choose to request so.

– In France, its existence is recognised by the Deixonne law (1951), allowing its teaching in public schools as an option.

– In Monaco, Occitan has no official status, but is the subject of studies at the Académie des Langues Dialectales.

Occitan literature is Europe’s most ancient Romance literature. The 12th and 13th centuries were its golden era, with the poetry of the troubadours. This thriving era was interrupted by the crusade against the Cathare. A first recognition dates back to 1550-1660, with 3 main sources: Gascogne (Pey de Garros), Toulouse (Godolin, Larade, Ader, d’Astros…), and Provence (Ruffi, Bellaud de la Bellaudière). A second recognition of Oc writing comes following the French Revolution with authors such as Jasmin (Agen), La Fare-Alais (Alès) or Gelu (Marseille), and starts to organize itself with the creation of the Félibrige in 1854. The main figure of Oc literature then is Frédéric Mistral (1904 Nobel Prize).

The creation of the Institut d’Estudis Occitans (IEO), in 1945, federates new generations of writers. Charles Camproux, Max Rouquette, Robert Lafont, Bernard Manciet, Marcelle Delpastre, Max-Philippe Delavouët, Jean Boudou, Félix Castan… are prime illustrations of Oc literature. The revival of this literature continues in the 21st century. Generations born between 1930 and 1950 (Florian Vernet, Yves Rouquette, Joan Ganhaire, Roland Pécout, Michel Chadeuil…) explore new genres: travel writing, science fiction, crime fiction… And young authors born at the end of the 80s are now slowly taking over.

– Film: Occitan appears in the dubbing of cartoons or films, the production of TV shows and documentaries (Camina, Estivòc…) as well as fiction Farrebique (Georges Rouquier), Malaterra (Philippe Carrese)…

Occitan is the language of education in the public schools of the Val d’Aran (Spain), in the Calandretas associative schools (France, immersion only), and partially in public education « bilingual classes » (France).

– on Occitan:

Public education optional courses (France and Italy).

Courses delivered by the associations.

Open courses (Val dʼAran, Spain).

Historical observations

In the Middle Age, around the 12th century, the Langue d’Oc (« language of Oc ») – probably a literary Koine – is the language of the troubadours and the Cours d’Amour, with a reputation that spread all over Europe.

When France gradually took over the regions of southern France, the shift to French encountered no major obstacle: the language, which was limited to the administration (written), only concerned a handful of members of the higher class. The rest of the population thinks, lives and speaks in langue d’Oc.

Between the 17th and 19th centuries, francization grows in the higher and middle classes, certain members of which become bilingual. French enters the (larger) cities, and then rural areas in the course of the 19th and 20th centuries.

1846-1847: Honnorat publishes a Provençal-French dictionary, with an archaic script closer to that of the troubadours.

1854: Foundation of the Félibrige.

1895: J. Roux, from Limousin, publishes a Grammaire Limousine, in which he advocates for a script closer to that of the troubadours.

1904: Frédéric Mistral is awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

1935: Publication of the Grammatica Occitana, by Louis Alibert.

1951: Deixonne law of January 11, in favour of the teaching of « local languages and dialects in the regions they are spoken in », that is, at the time, Breton, Basque, Catalan, and Occitan.

1975: Haby law of July 11, which, in article 12, declares that « the teaching of regional languages and cultures can be delivered throughout the entire schooling period »

1989: Creation of a Calandreta associative school.

1999: In Marseille, the « capoulié » (President) of the Félibrige and the President of the IEO agree on the mutual respect of both Mistralian/classical or Occitan scripts.

2002: The European Bureau for Lesser Used Languages (EBLUL) formally requests before the organisers of the 2006 Turin Olympic Games that they use Occitan as much as possible over the course of the event, and even declare it the official language of the 2006 Games.

2003: The DGLFLF (General Delegation for the French language and the languages of France) attempts to coordinate Oc movements to bring southern France together on the subject and discuss linguistic planning with one and the same representative, yet the reactions are quite negative towards what is viewed as a move for Occitan control over linguistic diversity and the specificity of each language, especially in Provence.

Occitan in Italy

In Italy, the situation of Occitan is different. In theory, Occitan falls under law no. 482 of December 15, 1999, aiming to protect the linguistic minorities. The article decrees:

Following the Article 6 of the Italian Constitution and the general principles adopted by European and International institutions, the Italian Republic protects the language and culture of the Albanian, Catalan, German, Greek, Slovenian and Croatian population, as well as of the citizens who speak French, Franco-Provençal, Friuli, Romansh, Old Provençal and Sardinian.

But Occitan in Italy is only spoken but in a few remote areas (e.g. confined to a few valleys of the Alps, in the region of Turin). Its transmission remains effective, though it has significantly lost its prestige. A number of children no longer speak Occitan as a first language, given up in favour of Italian or the Piedmontese dialect.

Sorosoro is a program carried by the WOLACO Association (World Languages ​​Conservancy) and supported by the Laboratory of Excellence ASLAN (Advanced Studies on language complexity) from the University of Lyon.